IdahoIdaho applies sex offender housing limits at care facilities
Starting July 1, 2026, Idaho defines where a registered offender habitually lives and applies the 500-foot school and daycare housing rule at residential and long-term care facilities.
What it does
An offender’s residence means the place where the person habitually lives. A place also counts if the person visits for more than five hours at a time, more than five times in 30 days.
Registered offenders may not live within 500 feet of a school or daycare, including at residential or long-term care facilities. Exceptions cover certain earlier homes, incarceration facilities, hospitals, and approved shelters or recovery facilities.
Argument forCounting places where someone regularly stays could help officials apply the distance rule to people without a fixed home or who often stay elsewhere.
Argument againstThe housing restriction could limit where some registrants can live, including people in residential or long-term care facilities, while leaving exceptions for certain facilities and shelters.
More detail
Idaho law defines an offender’s residence as the place where the offender habitually lives. The definition applies to people covered by Idaho’s sex offender registration law, including people without a fixed home. A place counts under the visit rule when the person stays more than five hours per visit, more than five times in 30 days. The act takes effect July 1, 2026.
A registered offender may not live within 500 feet of a school or daycare. The 500 feet is measured from the nearest outside wall of the person’s dwelling unit to the school or daycare property line. The restriction applies at residential and long-term care facilities. The rule does not apply to a home established before July 1, 2006, near a school, or before July 1, 2020, near a daycare that existed on that date. It also does not apply if the home predates a nearby daycare. The rule does not apply to a person living at an incarceration facility or hospital, or staying at a homeless shelter or recovery facility approved for sex offenders by the county sheriff or municipal police chief. The act takes effect July 1, 2026.
Where do you stand?
Choose your position
Tell your reps
Take a position to see your representatives and ways to contact them.
Where it stands
- Introduced
- Passed 1st Chamber
- Passed 2nd Chamber
- To Governor
- Became Law
Looking ahead
No hearings or votes scheduled.
History
- 2026
- Mar 30Reported Signed by Governor Brad Little on March 27, 2026 Session Law Chapter 204 Effective: 07/01/2026Became Law
- Mar 27Delivered to Governor at 4:40 p.m. on March 26, 2026To Governor
- Mar 26Returned Signed by the President; Ordered Transmitted to GovernorMinor
- Mar 26Signed by President; returned to HouseMajor
- Mar 26Received from the House enrolled/signed by SpeakerMajor
- Mar 25Reported Enrolled; Signed by Speaker; Transmitted to SenateMajor
- Mar 25Returned from Senate Passed; to JRA for EnrollingMinor
- Mar 24Read third time in full – PASSED - 33-0-2AYES – Adams, Anthon, Bernt, Blaylock, Burtenshaw, Carlson, Cook, Den Hartog, Foreman, Galloway, Grow, Guthrie, Hart, Keyser, Kohl, Lakey, Lenney, Lent, Nichols, Okuniewicz, Rabe, Ricks, Ruchti, Semmelroth, Shippy, Taylor, Toews, VanOrden, Ward-Engelking, Wintrow, Woodward, Zito, ZuiderveldNAYS – NoneAbsent and excused – Bjerke(Bjerke), HarrisFloor Sponsor - ShippyTitle apvd - to HousePassed 2nd Chamber
- Vote recorded Read third time in full –. Result: pass.Upper
- Mar 24Retained on calendar
- Mar 20Read second time; filed for Third ReadingMinor
- Mar 19Reported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation; Filed for second readingMinor
- Feb 27Introduced, read first time; referred to: Judiciary & RulesMinor
- Feb 27Received from the House passed; filed for first reading
- Feb 26Read Third Time in Full – PASSED - 69-0-1AYES – Alfieri, Barbieri, Beiswenger, Berch, Bingham, Boyle, Bruce, Burgoyne, Cannon, Cayler, Cheatum, Church, Cornilles, Crane(12), Crane(13), Dygert, Egbert, Ehardt, Ehlers, Erickson, Fuhriman, Furniss, Galaviz, Gannon, Garner, Green, Hall(Stone), Handy, Harris, Hawkins, Haws, Healey, Hill, Holtzclaw, Hostetler, Leavitt, Manwaring, Marmon, Mathias, Mendive, Mickelsen, Miller, Mitchell, Monks, Nelsen, Palmer, Petzke, Pickett, Pohanka, Price, Rasor, Raybould, Raymond, Redman, Rubel, Sauter, Scott, Shepherd, Shirts, Skaug, Tanner(13), Tanner(14), Thompson, Vander Woude, Veile, Weber, Wheeler, Wisniewski, Mr. SpeakerNAYS – NoneAbsent – McCannFloor Sponsor - BoyleTitle apvd - to SenatePassed 1st Chamber
- Vote recorded Read Third Time in Full –. Result: pass.Lower
- Feb 25Read second time; Filed for Third ReadingMinor
- Feb 24Reported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation, Filed for Second ReadingMinor
- Feb 17Reported Printed and Referred to Judiciary, Rules & Administration
- Feb 16Introduced, read first time, referred to JRA for PrintingIntroduced
Criminal JusticePublic Safety